Japan has been hit by hard times in recent years, as the number of cell phone manufacturers has fallen to five from a high of 13. The once agile and impressive Japanese market, filled with astoundingly slim and sexy phones linked together through NFC, is not what it used to be. Smartphones in Japan aren't as innovative as they once were.

There is one bright spot, however, in all this doom and gloom. Japan's biggest business publication, The Nikkei, is reporting that Panasonic is trying to strike a deal with a major carrier in Europe. The company sold 4.4 million phones last year, but wants to sell 7.5 million units internationally.

So, why are we so excited about getting our hands on a Panasonic phone?

Steven Blum has written more than 2,000 blog posts as a founding member of AndroidPIT's English editorial team. A graduate of the University of Washington, Steven Blum also studied Journalism at George Washington University in Washington D.C. for two years. Since then, his writing has appeared in The Stranger, The Seattle P-I, Blackbook Magazine and Venture Villlage. He loves the HTC One and hopes the company behind it still exists in a few years.